Cute Couples Tradition: Make Your Own Personal Cookbook

File this under sweet things for newlyweds (and beyond!). It’s another one of my husband’s cute ideas, and this time it’s not vacation related, it’s actually food focused. Yum. In an effort to keep us cooking in our new kitchen (and to encourage us to expand our recipe repertoire) John suggested that one of us select a new recipe every week (which can be found online, in a magazine, in a cookbook, etc) and cook it for the other person.

It’s fun to research recipes every other week when it’s my turn, and it’s even more fun to devour John’s delectable dishes on the weeks that are his responsibility. And best of all, we purchased a cute fabric covered notebook to document each and every recipe (some even have pictures when we remember to snap a few before digging in). Oh and we’re responsible for naming our creations as well- some favorites include “John’s Coco Loco Asian Chicken” and “Sherry’s Nasty Italian Steak Mash”- they’re delicious I swear.

So why not start your own little personal cookbook full of new and exciting recipes? The only thing you have to lose is well, the ability to slip into those skinny jeans. But seriously, it’s a fun family tradition that we might just pass on to our kids as well someday. Heck, if we have enough of ’em maybe we won’t have to cook at all anymore…

Comments

Sounds like a fun idea. Too bad my husband’s weekly recipe would be Prego and pasta with canned green beans! :) He’s an awesome husband who works hard so I can stay home with the kids so I can’t complain! I love cooking so maybe I will start a book to pass down to the kids!

We do keep an entertaining book. We list the preliminary ideas in it (possible date, main meal menu, drinks, appetizers, guest list, decorations, etc.) and then finalize everything in the same book (everything doesn’t have to be perfect). I also like to post a pic of the party and jot down any games that we played or fun conversational points. It’s a scrapbook of sorts (I love that memories are collected this way) but also helps us plan and execute our dinners with friends and family.

I have been doing this for years, since high school, in fact. I did start this before the advent of digital cameras and picture-printing on demand so I unfortunately do not have the pictures. It’s been a blast keeping track of these recipes.

I use a journal that was handmade from old school notebooks that had pages left over after each school year. Honestly, the journal, is older than any relationship I have ever had. And its been with me through each and every one, too.

I Love Love LOVE this idea! Our first anniversary is on Monday and I’m going to start this while we’re on our anniversary trip! I’m already working on making him a map board of all the places we’ve traveled together! Thanks for the tips! My husband is always finding me fun recipes online – and he’s totally open to cooking them for me, so this will be a fun way to keep track of them and pass down to our kiddos one day! Keep the creative juices flowing… I love your site.

I did something similar a couple of years ago, but since I do almost all the cooking I just tried one new recipe every week. We have 3 children so I thought it would make it more of a family project if we all voted on each recipe. If we had guests they could also vote and I then recorded the votes along with the recipe in a notebook.

I started something of this nature back in the day when I was single. Although, as I don’t cook it was more of a things I would like to try book. But I do like the idea of doing this as a couple thing and each coming up with a new recipe!! Cute idea guys!

Just found your site and have been looking in the archives. As an avid foodie I am always putting my own twists to recipes and my daughter now 10 wants to know my secrets! I recently found http://www.tastebook.com/ where you can create your own cook book with your own pictures. It is awesome and it is expandable as you can add as many new pages as you want. I plan on giving this to my daughter with my best recipes in it as a housewarming gift when she moves out on her own.

Have you been able to keep this up since Clara was born? Seems like a good project to keep going with her (and siblings someday) when she is old enough. I will have to present this idea to my husband. Thanks for all the great ideas!